Rabbi Jack Moline, who served as spiritual leader of Agudas Achim Congregation in Alexandria, Va., for more than two decades, was recently named executive director of the Washington-based Interfaith Alliance, a progressive, ecumenical organization that “celebrates religious freedom by championing individual rights.” His appointment follows his short-lived stint as director of the National Jewish Democratic Council.

Rabbi Jack Moline, the well-known spiritual leader of Agudas Achim Congregation in Alexandria, Va., and national co-chair of Rabbis for Obama, has decided to leave the pulpit and become the executive director of the National Jewish Democratic Council.

Expect pro-Israel talk at both, but a different tone on economy and social issues.

08/21/2012

Ron Kampeas/ JTA

Washington — Get set for a political double feature with much of the same plot, but with different outcomes for the issues that tend to preoccupy Jewish voters.

The same key words and themes will bounce around Jewish events at next week’s Republican convention in Tampa, Fla., and at the Democratic convention in Charlotte, N.C., the next week: “pro-Israel,” “marriage,” “Jewish vote” and “abortion.”

Samuel Wurzelbacher, who gained fame in 2008 as “Joe the Plumber” who posed a question to Barack Obama -- and is now running for Congress in Ohio -- is garnering unwanted attention for suggesting that Nazi gun control laws contributed to the Holocaust.

“In 1939, Germany established gun control,” a narrator says in a campaign video posted Monday for Wurzelbacher, who is seen shooting fruit and vegetables with a shotgun. “From 1939 to 1945, 6 million Jews and 7 million others, unable to defend themselves, were exterminated.”

Only hours after she was appointed chair of the Democratic National Committee, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) was labeled “the girl from J Street” by several right-of-center blogs and blasted by the Republican Jewish Coalition for her connection to the pro-Israel, pro-peace process group — even though she had rejected its endorsement and its money.

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Jewish groups called on a Democratic congressman to apologize for using Holocaust terminology in attacking Republicans.

Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), addressing the U.S. House of Representatives Tuesday night in a debate over a Republican bill to repeal last year's heath care reforms, likened Republican claims to tactics used by the Nazi propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels.

"They say it’s a government takeover of health care, a big lie just like Goebbels,” he said. He also called the Republican claims a "blood libel."